The great grand-daughter
of Edward Whittall, the eminent botanist, she lived in Bornova till
1939 (aged 5), when she moved to Ankara where she stayed till 1952.
Her brother Desmond Whittall lived in Turkey till about 12 years ago.
Desmond Whittall joined the Ottoman bank in London in 1950. He held
numerous managerial posts in Africa, the Middle East and Pakistan, where
he was the general manager of Pakistan section of Grindlays bank. In
1980 he was appointed by the British Board, as deputy general manager
of the Ottoman bank in Turkey, based in Istanbul. He retained that job
until his retirement in 1991. In 1987/8 Desmond Whittall has made head
of the British chamber of commerce in Istanbul, exactly 100 years after
his forbear, Sir William Whittall, its founder, held that post. Desmond
Whittall was awarded the O.B.E. in 1990, by Her Majesty the Queen for
services to British commerce and the British community in Istanbul.

Mrs James was a friend to the late Ambassador Sir Roderick Sarell and
his wife Pam, as her husband Captain ‘Jimmy’ Geoffrey James, was the
naval attaché serving under him in Ankara between 1969 and 1971.
She knew the family left from Exeter to Constantinople around 1803-05,
and has the contact of his surviving sons, William, Philip and the youngest
Charles. Mrs James has fond memories of her time in Ankara, a city she
had got to know well in her earlier years.

Sir Roderick Sarell died 3 years ago, and though he started to work
on his memoirs, they only cover his early years in the diplomatic service.
A year before his death Mr Sarell sent to Mrs James, for mutual interest,
a synopsis of the Sarell family story he prepared, and also enclosed
a letter written by a family member, with illuminating details of life
in Constantinople of 1812.

The Sarell family are related by marriage to the prominent Levantine
family of Baltazzi, some of whose members still reside in Vienna and
were involved in the prestigious Jockey club of the city, which they
helped to establish.

Mrs James remembers anecdotes and stories stretching back to ‘uncle
Arthur’, paternal grand-father Edgar Arthur’s brother Albert James,
1879-1957 (one of 9 offspring of Edward the botanist - 1851-1917) of
a time when the brigands ran the outback, and one of the most famous
of these, most of whom seem to be Greek, was Çekirge, who kidnapped
and ransomed. This brigand chief seeing the house lights in Bournobat
on, enquired beyond the walls what was the matter, to which the response
from within was that a child was sick, but they were too scared to call
for a doctor. This brigand had a heart, and went to doctor’s house,
pulled him out of bed, to be brought to the patient. Another time a
brigand held the local Vali’s [mayor] son for ransom. These brigands
were mostly Greeks from the islands and brigandage was an escape from
grinding poverty. They could be ruthless, such as sending a cut ear
in a parcel when the ransom was not paid, but often when the ransom
was paid, they gave a gold coin before releasing their captive with
whom they had bonded in the outback. The Whittall family considered
themselves to be a high-level potential targets as they were considered
to be rich. There was something of a Robin Hood style to many of these
bandits who gave some of their ill-gotten gains to the villagers in
the countryside who gave them shelter. Once one of the brigands was
cornered in Bournabat who tried to hide up a chimney; he was brought
out covered in soot. Brigandage wasn’t limited to the 19th
century, as once when Mrs James’s father Jack Whittall was out shooting
with a party in the bush country of Aydın, jandarmes came to inform
him that bandits were converging on the group, so the party turned on
their heels and were able to outpace the brigands.

Mrs James father, Jack Godfrey Whittall (born 1904) decided on a clerical
career, following the disruption in family fortunes with WWI. He worked
as a clerk at the British consulate in Izmir, however his commercial
aptitude meant he was transferred during WWII years to the commercial
section at the British Embassy at Ankara. After WWII, he entered the
diplomatic service, served in consular posts around the world, and for
his services received an OBE.

THE
SARELL FAMILY OF EXETER AND CONSTANTINOPLE

Philip Sarell, christened
1758 at St Mary Steps, Exeter, a Fuller, admitted a Freeman of Exeter,
1780, married Sarah Sowton in 1781. He had three sons, JAMES, christened
1782, who emigrated to Turkey and was sworn a Freeman of the Levant
Company in Constantinople on 18 June 1803 at the age of 21. The date
is significant because it marks the reopening of the Mediterranean after
Nelson’s victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. Richard
the second christened on l9 September 1791 and Philip christened in
1795.

James married a Greek woman called Imaragsa by whom he had a son, Edward
James of whom there is no further record. Four years after his arrival,
James was involved in a famous and historic affair arising out of the
conflicting pressures on Turkey of the French and the Russians. The
Turks had shown their determination when Napoleon had invaded Egypt,
a Turkish province. The French Chargé d’Affaires and 2000 French
residents had been thrown into prison. Subsequently the Turkish attitude
to France, England and Russia had varied according to their progress
and relative positions during the Napoleonic wars.

The route of the Austrians and Russians at Austerlitz enabled Napoleon
to re-establish French influence at Constantinople. He sent General
Sebastiani to encourage the Turks to confront the Russians by removing
the Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia. This was a breach of a decree
of 1802 binding the Turks not to remove these officers within seven
years of appointment. When the British Ambassador made clear the British
Government’s strong support for Russian demands the Turkish authorities
realising that this meant war, prepared secretly to seize the Ambassador,
the British Merchants, and the Guardship as hostages. Arbuthnot had
reliable information of this intended coup and on the pretext of a banquet
on board HMS Endymion the sole remaining British Man-of War in the Bosphorus
assembled the British Factors on Board. Only the Captain and one British
Merchant was in the secret, and when night fell the ship’s cables were
cut, and she slipped away without warning to the Turks, passed the Dardanelles
in safety and joined Admiral Duckwoth’s squadron which had assembled
off Tenedos. The Turks confiscated all British property and all British
subjects were made prisoner. Arbuthnot wrote to Sebastiani the French
representative asking him to see that the Porte behaved to the women
like a civilised power, and handed over English affairs to the Danish
Minister Hubsch.

For the next two years Morier, the Consul General and the Merchants
remained in Malta (without their wives and families). In April 1808
the Turkish government, realising that the Franco-Russian pact at Tilsit
was aimed at the eventual partitioning of Turkey, wrote to Lord Collingwood,
C-in-C Mediterranean offering to renew negotiations for peace. In September
Robert Adair arrived at the Dardanelles. After three months of discussions
The Peace of the Dardanelles was signed in January 1809. It provided
for the full restoration of the Capitulations and of the property of
the merchants which had been sequestrated during the war.

The merchants’ including James Sarell’s claim for their losses was the
subject of somewhat caustic comment from London: ‘We desire that you
will communicate to Mr Barbour, Mr Prior, Mr Cartwright and Mr Sarell
that we have given all due attention to their claims for reimbursement
of the losses which they sustained in consequence of their having been
brought from Constantinople by Mr Arbuthnot. On examining the statements
of the gentlemen sworn to before you and on adding together the amount
of the whole, we were much struck by their total discordance both in
character and amount. The final statement of losses real and imaginary,
including those of their correspondents, scarcely amount to one half
of the first claims which were declared to be for their own individual
losses only and which they even desired us to lay before the House of
Commons.’

As part of the settlement, the Turks secured the abolition of the abusive
issue of the Ambassador’s barats or patents of protection which had
been sold over lavishly. Only those actually serving as Dragomen or
interpreters were to enjoy English protection. It was further agreed
that no more Ottoman subjects were to be appointed as English Consuls
although Greeks and other Levantines continued to act as agents for
the Levant Company.

Richard, Philip’s second son, christened at St Mary Steps in Exeter
on 19 September 1791 was sworn a freeman of the Levant Company in Constantinople
in 1811 at the age of 20. James died in the same year and only shortly
after their mother Sarah came out to join the brothers in Constantinople.
Richard married an English woman of whom we have no record. Sarah wrote
a remarkable letter on march 13 1812 to a Mr Joseph Brown of London
describing in illuminating detail Constantinople as she then saw it.
This is the earliest family document we possess. We have not yet identified
Mr Joseph Brown.

Philip, the youngest of the three Exeter Brothers came out to Turkey
shortly before his mother and is recorded as present at the Levant Company
in Constantinople on 27 May 1818 when he was 23. We have no record of
his marriage. He died in Smyrna in 1839.

On Easter Day, 21 April 1822, Richard now 30 married Euphrosyne Rhasi
a member of the distinguished Cephalonian family of that name, born
in l799 and therefore about 23. Whether it was a love match or a shrewd
move into British protection in view of the savage Turkish reprisals
and repression of the Greeks after the rebellion of 1821 we cannot know.
But the marriage was successful in producing two sons and seven daughters.

Euphrosyne was an efficient mother, marrying off her eldest daughter
Elizabeth (Eliza) to Theodore
Baltazzi, already one of the richest men in Turkey as banker to
the Sultan. Theodore was a widower of 43, Eliza was 19 but they had
nine children of whom the last Julia was posthumous.

Richard for his part progressed to be Treasurer of the Levant Company
Factory in Constantinople. When Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the Ambassador,
had to withdraw in 1822 after the Battle of Navarino because the Sultan
was no longer willing to have dealings with him, Richard remained as
Vice consul in charge of Commercial affairs. For his services during
this period King William the fourth commanded that a ‘Gold Box with
His Majesty’s Portrait be presented to Mr Sarell as a testimonial of
His Majesty’s gracious approbation of the services which Your Excellency
has reported Mr Sarell to have rendered to the interests of His Majesty’s
trading Subjects during the absence of the British Embassy from Constantinople.’
(F0, 25 January 1831). (This gold box is on permanent loan by Henrietta
Iwan-Muller to the Victoria and Albert museum and is on display in a
cabinet in the Jewellery dept).

(Henrietta Iwan-Muller was the niece of Charles Wilkin and first cousin
of Annamaria Sarell. She is the author of the diaries recording her
life as a governess in Cairo and elsewhere. She records the deathbed
scene of Eliza Alison (formerly Baltazzi) at the Hotel d’Orient on December
27 1863).
Sarah Sarell’s letter of March 13 1812 to Mr Joseph Brown of London
written from Constantinople

The long period that has elapsed since my departure from England, and
my not having written according to your very polite request is an omission
for which I scarcely know how to apologise, but trust you will have
the goodness not to impute either to inattention or disrespect, what
was occasioned only by the melancholy and unfortunate event, which so
soon took place after I arrived in this country, an event which must
cloud some part of every day of my future life with sorrow. I have however
one consolation which is, that my beloved deceased son ever conducted
himself so prudently, so equitably, towards all, with whom he had connexions,
that he is universally spoken of, with respect and esteem. My now eldest
son Rich’d who succeeded his brother, I believe, and trust you will
find equally punctual and attentive to your interest, and to the interest
of all his correspondents. My youngest Philip, who left England a few
months before myself, continues here, and promises to do well, he is
settled in the counting house with his brother dependent on him for
a few years, till time and experience may render him fit to conduct
business. We all live very comfortably together, my children are dutiful,
and affectionate, and I should have been very happy had it pleased the
Almighty to have spared my dear deceased son. Pardon me for relating
so much of my own affairs. At present we live here in much security
and peace and in many respects with as much comfort as in England. We
have every luxury for the Table much cheaper than in England, very fine
poultry, the turkies the largest I ever saw, fish and fruit very fine,
and plenty of good wine at a low price. The old English proverb is exactly
verified here that “God sends meat but the Devil sends cooks” for surely
there never was in any Christian country such miserable cooks. The women
here have not the least idea of doing anything in the kitchen, the cooks
are all men, and for the most part Greeks from the islands. When I /
we first got into our house, as I could only speak English, and the
servants only Greek or a little Italian, we made some very drole mistakes
at times. I now comprehend a little of both those languages. My son
Richard speaks Greek like a native, also Italian and French pretty well.
Philip has made some proficiency in Italian and is now learning French
and can make himself understood in Greek. The Turkish language is extremely
difficult to acquire and very few learn it except those who are natives
of the country. The whole appearance both of the people and the country,
the variety of unusual sounds that salute ones ears, the extreme narrowness
of the streets, the excessive dirt, the quantity of dogs, altogether
make the place very disagreeable to a person on arriving first from
England, but a little time makes it familiar, and curiosity will find
many subjects in a country and people formerly so famous in history.

There are four distinct orders of persons who inhabit Constantinople,
first and most numerous are the Turks who esteem themselves superior
and Lords of all, the Greeks who as the original natives of the country,
since time immemorial before it was conquered by the descendants of
Mohamed, are next to the Turks, most numerous. These people in general
hate and despise their Turkish masters, yet as a conquered people they
are obliged to submit, but they take every opportunity to vex the Turks
when they can do it with impunity and those quarrels frequently end
in the death of the poor Greek whom the Turk will surely murder if he
is too much irritated. The Armenians come next under our observation;
those people are Christians, their ancestors were the peaceable inhabitants
of the once flourishing kingdom of Armenia, which is situated about
midway between the territories of the grand seignior and the sultan
of Persia, (Turkey and all Greece was at that time governed by the Greek
Emperors), situated as those people were, between such powerful neighbours
they alternately fell prey to both of them, but on their final subjugation
and the extermination of their kingdom, thousands of the miserable exiles
found an asylum in Constantinople under the government of the Greek
emperors , since the conquest of this country by the Turks in 1453,
the Armenians have gradually arisen to riches and opulence. They hold
many places of confidence under the government; the coinage is wholly
under their direction as the mint is farmed out to them. Their houses
are most superb edifices built of stone, the gardens surrounded by high
walls, within which they have fountains, statues and everything to please
the eye and ear. Those people when sequestered in their houses, indulge
themselves in al the pride of dress, yellow boots decorate their feet,
their long gowns of the finest silk, a pelice lined in winter with fur
which costs a thousand piasters, a fine shawl tied round the waist,
which costs from fifty to one hundred pound sterling, the finest diamonds
glitter on their fingers, and an immense calpack shelters their head.
A calpack is a covering for the head of both Greeks and Armenians. I
do not know what tis manufactured of, but it is black, and sometimes
black mixed with white very fine, but in shape exactly resembles an
old fashioned copper boiler whose brims being contracted much smaller
than the other parts. Imagine that you see one of those boilers become
black and coated from smoke and placed on the head bottom upwards, and
you will have an exact idea of this sort of hat. I should observe that
the head is shaved all round the temples and behind, not a bit of hair
to be seen, only on the upper lip in the young, and an immense beard
on the middle aged, and the old. The necks are quite exposed, as they
never have a collar to the shirts.
The dress of the ladies is very little different from the men that is
among the Turks, the Armenians, only that they are very careful of their
hair, and wear it immensely long flowing over their shoulders or braided
in a number of little tresses. The Greek ladies have almost adopted
the European dress, the usual employment of the females of this country
is embroidery, and they execute it in the most beautiful stile on muslin
with silk, and or silver.

I have two or three times been at Constantinople from which we are separated
by the harbour.Note: Therefore they are based
in Galata / Pera.

I believe tis about a mile across. Constantinople is very much thronged
with inhabitants, there are some very good houses, and the mosques make
a very grand appearance. The chief thing that strikes the attention
of a stranger is the bazaars, or market places. Those are immense vaulted
buildings of stone on each side of which are shops range. Regularly
every profession has a bazaar. The first which I entered was the Egyptian
Bazaar, in that they sell every kind of drugs bought from Egypt, besides
colours for painting, rice, sugar, coffee and various articles in the
same way. In that single market there are more than one hundred shops,
all exactly alike with a small room to sit in behind, as those who keep
the shops are only in them during the day and return to their houses
in the evening when the Bazaar is shut, and secured with iron doors
for fear of fire. Besides those markets there are Khans for the merchants
of Persia, from India, from Barbary where all kinds of rich merchandise
are deposited and sold and in those the dealers remain during the time
they remain in Constantinople. The Turks have some very beautiful manufacture
in silk and cut velvets. Their silks are very good and well fancied.
The velvets are silk and of different colours woven in one piece and
variegated in flowers and other figures. Those velvets are mostly used
for covering the cushions and sophas. A sopha is the great article of
Turkish luxury, and very different from they are in England. A platform
is raised round three sides of the room about a foot higher than the
floor and three feet in width from the wall. On this platform mattresses
are placed all round and covered in summer with coloured prints, trimmed
with a deep fringe. At the back of the sophas against the wall, cushions,
about a yard long are arranged, stuffed very hard with flax. In winter
those cushions are covered with beautiful velvet and the mattresses
with broad cloth or silk (I allude to the houses of the opulent) in
those sophas the Turks, the Greeks and indeed all the people repose
after dinner and take their pipe and coffee.

Another singular custom of this country is the Tandour or fine table.
This is a small table about the size of a breakfast table, besides the
upper part, it has a second table, below a few inches from the floor
in the midst of this, is cut a round hole, in which a pan containing
a charcoal fire is placed, and over the table a large blanket and quilt
to keep in the heat. This table is placed in the angle between two sophas
and round it, the family and visitors sit in winter with their feet
placed on the lower part and covered as much as they like with the coverings.
This custom to a native of England has an odd appearance but becomes
agreeable from use as very few of the houses have chimneys, except in
the kitchen, and the winters are very cold with much snow, but not long,
four months is all that can be called winter.

I have two or three times been in a boat up the Bosphorus or canal of
the Black Sea, the straits which parts Europe from Asia, tis not more
than three miles wide at the widest part, and it is certainly not to
be equalled for the beauty of prospect in the world. On entering the
boat, you have the Seraglio on your right, whose fine buildings and
woods rise gradually to the top of the hill. The large city of Scutari
is on the opposite side on the Asiatic coast and all the way for 14
miles, tis a continuation of villages and towns on each side close to
the mouth of the Black Sea. The grand seignior has some very beautiful
houses on the banks of the canal, so lightly built and decorated with
paintings and marble pillars that the outsides appear like some highly
finished scene in a theatre. The canal in summer is covered with innumerable
boats going and returning from the country houses of almost every description
of people and parties, who taking their provisions and servants make
little excursions to the Asiatic coast. And to increase the pleasure
of the day, they ascend some of the highest mountains in a kind of light
wagon drawn by buffaloes, where it would be impossible for a horse to
draw a carriage.

These are some of the customs and amusements of Constantinople, but
for all these things, tis very dull here, and I am afraid you will think
that my letter is tediously long. I hope Mrs Brown and all the family
are in good health, to whom please to make my respects, also to Mr Sculthorpe,
I remain Sir,
Your Obedient Servant
S. Sarell

Note added by Roderick Sarell

Sarah (née Sowton) was born in Exeter, Devon and baptised at
the church of St. Mary Major on 20 Dec 1758. She married Philip Sarell,
Fuller and freeman of the city of Exeter (admitted on 10 April 1780
aged 22 as his father Richard’s apprentice) on 20 May 1781at the Sarell
family’s parish church of St. Mary Steps. Philip is not recorded as
dieing in Exeter. Their three sons, James, b. May 1782; Richard 19 Sept
1791 and Philip b. 1795 emigrated to Constantinople, Turkey where they
were successfully sworn freemen of the Levant Company. James on 15 July
1803; Richard in 1811 and Philip mentioned as having come out ‘few months
before myself was recorded as present at the Levant Co factory in Constantinople
on 27/5/1818. James died in 1811 and so Sarah must have come out in
1810 and Philip in about the same year. Sarah was thus 53 when she wrote
this memorable letter, the oldest surviving family document. She died
in 1817 and on the removal of the graves from the ‘Grand Champs aux
Morts’ she and James were reburied together in a large marble tomb in
the Protestant cemetery at Feriköy, behind Pera in Constantinople.

The abridged text from the newspaper obituary
of Sir Roderick Sarell
Roderick Sarell was the British Consul-General in Algiers during the
Algerian war, the last Ambassador to Libya before the Gaddafi revolution,
and then Ambassador to Turkey. He was born in 1913 in Dunkirk where
his father was British Consul. In 1936 he joined the Consul Service,
and in 1939 he was posted to Ethiopia, which was under Italian rule.
When Italy joined the war alongside Germany in 1940, he moved to Iraq.
By 1942 Italians had been defeated in Ethiopia, and he returned to Addis
Ababa as Second Secretary.

Sarell’s final posting was as Ambassador in Ankara, then still headquarters
of Cento, the alliance with Britain, Iran and Pakistan created to improve
security along the southern flank of the Soviet Union. One of the most
difficult episodes of his posting was the deaths of four British radar
technicians, killed while held hostage by Marxist guerrillas. Their
wives were in the embassy residence when news arrived of the failure
of a rescue attempt by Turkish forces.

The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne made a state visit
to Turkey in October 1971, and Sarell and his wife stayed with the royal
party aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia as she sailed from Izmir to Istanbul.
For his part in the visit’s success Sarell was then appointed KCVO.
Sir Roderick Sarell died on August 2001 aged 88.